Boy it didn’t take long for the first XP security threat to be released after the end of Microsoft’s support of it. But even without the XP anchor tied to many a person and business, the issue of security was already there and will always be there. That is as long as people can profit from causing havoc, stealing information and by using your identity. So what is a person to do when even websites we expect to be able to trust can be vulnerable to security issues? I mean we have all stopped using our children’s birthdates as our passwords, no longer write them down on the bottom of our mouse pads, and for sure have stopped putting them on sticky notes on the side of our monitors. How can we be expected to do enough to protect ourselves and our data when doing anything seems so hard in the first place.

Ideas are like the spark that starts a fire, if they aren't given focus, resources and space they will just fade away. I can't tell you the number of harebrained ideas I have in one day. But very few ever come to fruition. Mostly because I don't focus on them long enough or with enough energy and resources to make them a reality. Sometimes it's because they are just bad ideas or don't bring enough value to justify the resources. But for those few that really burn in me I take the time to jot them down and begin to work on them. As a leader have you ever stopped and though about how many ideas everyone on your team has daily and what you are doing to help them move from spark to fire? Or worse, what are you doing to snuff them out before they see the light of day? What is that costing you, your team and your organization?

By now you have probably heard of the next big vulnerability since Heartbleed. If you are running Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, you are likely vulnerable.

In case you missed the Facebook trending posts, news reports, radio spots, and blog posts on the Internet there is now a new bug out there that you should know about. No, this bug is not a virus or a scam but a major invasion into your privacy. This vulnerability has been around for two years but was discovered only on Monday, April 7, 2014. By now, I am sure that you are asking yourself, "What is this new bug and why should I worry about it?" The bug’s official name is CVE-2014-0160, also known as the OpenSSL Heartbleed Bug.

Many of you who read our newsletter may already be aware that we shut down most of our operation last month on a Friday afternoon to enable everyone from our team to get together and work ON our organization. We had our leadership coach, Hardin Byers, from Heartland Leadership Group come in and lead us in a session around communication, teams and engagement. I thought I would share my thoughts from the class and how we plan to leverage this kairos event in hopes that you might be able to use some of the teachings yourself.

When we started seeing in the forecast that it might snow, I just smiled. When we started hearing the snow may be as much as 3 inches, my smile got bigger. As we spent the day with everyone looking out the window and asking “Is it snowing yet?”, I had to laugh. But in all my joy of the idea of my small children getting to see this rare event at an age where they will remember it, I also asked myself “Are we ready as ready as we need to be?”

I count myself lucky that I have the opportunity to spend time with very inspiring people within our local business and civic communities. I see them working hard to achieve goals that truly affect those people they work with. It makes me realize how much more I could be doing here in our community. I spend time with other business leaders in the IT space and see how they provide for their clients and employees. Their efforts make me want to do more.

As you close in on Spring time, most of your thoughts drift to wonderful spring temperatures, flowers in bloom and backyard barbeques. What you are probably not thinking about is the end of life of your faithful companion, Windows XP.

There are companies hiring and they will take your best and brightest (If you don’t work to stop it). You better find your employees' "WHY" before someone else does and takes them from you.